Astra 2 (28.2E) and Hotbird (13E) on the same dish

[MikeAn]

Hi all,

I am very new to both UK and sat matters so my questions will be necessarily pretty basic.
I am renting a house where a sat dish is pointed to Astra2, after a little tweaking I could persuade
my Vu+ Solo to receive the channels streamed from there...

Now my next step would be to try and receive HotBird13 at the same time...Ideally avoiding a motorized dish

Is that possible at all with a dual LNB or something?

Thanks for any adivce,

Michele

[MikeAn]

About the Dish...

62870

[Mickha]

Depends on the size of the dish, and general location. If it's a small Sky dish then you would probably either need to buy a larger dish, or install a second dish, which you can get quite cheaply, and fit a Diseqc switch, running both LNB's to your reeiver.

You posted a picture, while I was replying.
That looks like a small, 45cm, sky dish, which isn't suitable for getting both 13E, and 28.2E, so I'd fit a second dish, for 13E.

Check dishpointer.com, for where you can fix it, you can fix them low down, and even at ground level, providing you have a clear line of sight.

[echelon]

you will also find info in our dish and lnb forums, in the sticky threads, with pictures of setups too

https://www.satpimps.co.uk/forumdisplay.php?11-Dish-Discussions

https://www.satpimps.co.uk/forumdisplay.php?10-LNB-Discussions

that sly dish cannot be used for what you require , so its either a replacement or a second dish

the second dish would be pointed at hotbird and a diseqc switch is used to switch between the 2 dishes

the vu would need you to set this up in the setup menu too

a bigger dish of typically 80cm to 88cm can also be used with an lnb rack and 2 lnb,s to achieve the same thing, plus can also have astra 1 at 19e added too

so the choice is yours but for 2 sats your simplest solution is a cheap second dish pointed at hotbird and a diseqc switch added to the feed wire with one cable from each lnb (from each dish)

[MikeAn]

Guys thanks again,

I understand a cheapest solution would be to fit a second dish, however this is not my house
and I would probably have to drill in the outside wall?

Even if a little more expensive, I would go for substituting the dish for a larger one...hoping
it fits on the same wall bracket..I do not know the uses in this Country but I do not fancy running
cables on the outside, or drilling holes through the walls...

I will check the relevant Forum sub-sections then for more details...And have a look at what my
options are.

One nice thing is that there are already two cables running down to the outlets, so I wouldn't have
to pass anything.

Will keep you posted :)

Michele

[bonovox]

I use a fixed 60cm dish for 28e, 19e and 13e. 28e and 19e are perfectly fine but I only receive some of hotbird.

[Mickha]

Check out dishpointer.com, to see if you can have a clear line of sight, to 13E, from near ground level.
It is simmple to use, just enter your postcode, select Hotbird, 13E, from the dropm down satellite box, and zoom in on the map, to your house, moving the icon to where you might site the dish.
If it is possible then you can use a simple pole, that you just attach to a paving slab, or a non penetrating roof mount pole, that you weigh down. Both mean that you don't need to drill any holes, in the house wall, and are capable of doing the job required.
https://www.satpimps.co.uk/attachment.php?attachmentid=62871&stc=1https://www.satpimps.co.uk/attachment.php?attachmentid=62872&stc=1

[MikeAn]

Hi Mickha,

thank you, I think I understand the basic message but I have some further questions regarding this approach.

1 - you say if I use a stand I do not need to drill holes, that's good, but what about the feed cable?
Is there a possibility *not* to drill a hole to route it? Besides routing it to where the other feed
comes in, of course.

2 - I am attaching here a snapshot of what I was able to find. The way I understand it, I have
placed the red marker on the wall of my neighbour's house, i.e. the closest obstacle I could see.62874
The marker then reads d=8m, h=4.6m, which I interpret as
"an object at 8m distance from your dish should be no taller than 4.6m in order for you to still
see the satellite"
Is that correct?
I am not sure how tall are the houses walls/roof, but I will check.

If I went for the other solution, the wall mounted, I could also try to fit a *second, small*
dish on the present bracket, couldn't I?
Maybe this way the visual impact would be less than a single, bigger one. I don't know.

[Mickha]

I wouldn't fit 2 dishes on any Sky bracket, it might not be safe.
You can try routing the cable through the same hole as the other 2 currently go, or you can try the flat cable, that goes through a window, which then closes.
I can't tell. from the image, if you have a clear line of sight, moving the red icon, to any obstacle, should tell you if the obstacle is going to block your reception, as it gives you a clearance height, anything higher, than the number provided, could block the signal.

[Roadrunner]

I get 28-19-13E on a TD68 dish ( smallest one of my three dishes that in total cover 8 sats: 3+3+2)Nice signal on all of them without much loss in a bad weather etc. ..My setup isn't anywhere as great as Echelon's from the links above though :) I remember myself looking with AWE at the photos of his setup, and still remember the helpful answers I got here when I was trying to do something similar here. :)

[echelon]

I added more feeds to a close-family house last week and took off the F conenctors on the sly plus cable (the shotgun cable) and pulled it out through the existing hole, then enlarged the hole with a longer and larger mason master drill , then pushed the sly cable and the aerial cable through this enlarged hole in a triangle formation , so they all used the same feed hole , meaning no further holes were drilled

I would never try and attach a second dish to a sly dish wall bracket, not strong enough and maybe no room either

a ground mount is fine as long as there are no obstructions to the signal like brick walls or trees or fencing etc

[MikeAn]

Hi Michkha I can't blame you if you can't tell from my snapshot...I did not realize it came out so crappy :/

But I think I got it right: I basically follow with the red mark along the green line. The red mark then reads
a distance from the dish, and a max height before getting in the way of the signal.
You can then visually decide whether there are or not foreseeable obstacles along the green trace.
In my case that's the wall of the neighbour's house. Still have to check how high that is.

I think I'll have to ask some professional to look into it, I do not fancy the idea of a ground mount in the
already microscopic garden of ours. I hope I can swap dishes then, maybe reinforcing the existing bracket
or changing it altogether.
I would then need a wider dish, like 68cm? Or shall I go all the way to 80cm?

Thank you,

Michele

[Mickha]

The 68cm dish should be fine, but there should be little price difference between a 68cm, or 80cm, dish, so it's a matter of choice.
I would definitely consider a better quality bracket, for a bigger dish, as generally Sky use the cheapest materials possible, to cut down on cost, especially as most times the installation is free, and there dishes are quite light, and small.

[satpaul]

Here's some I have done one is Hotbird Astra 2 the other two are 57cm Orbital and 63cm Lenson Heath Astra 2 Astra 1 & Hotbird